Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Illustrated  A Buttercup Trade Card (1880)

Charlotte Perkin's Gilman was trained as an artist, and, prior to her earning an income from such writings as her novel Herland and her famous short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," she illustrated trade cards for a Rhode Island Soap Company that sold a product called "Soapine."

She also did generic designs that were sold to various manufacturers and merchants, including a series of girls with their heads set into flowers.  None of these cards are signed, but they are Gilman's. Scholars have found reference to them in her diaries and have located the original drawings among her papers.
Trade cards were popular in the 1880's and were handed out primarily in stores when one made a purchase. People pasted them in scrapbooks. 

For any collector of Gilman, the trade cards are  considered to be among her first published works. 3"x 4.5"